When first responders in Newfoundland and Labrador were seeking to help people during a recent record-setting blizzard, Statistics Canada decided to offer up information on the province’s most vulnerable residents. Using a map provided by the province showing the areas that had been focal points for the storm, Statistics Canada was able to assemble a package that looked at socioeconomic data across 334 separate areas within hours of it being requested.
Focusing on indicators like age, residential instability, and various economic and social indicators, the resulting outputs were able to direct emergency assistance to key regions. Said Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté, assistant director at the agency’s Centre for Social Data Integration and Development, of the unified data, told iPolitics, “We can say exactly where it happened, how many people were affected by this, and which populations were most affected in terms of vulnerability.”
This wasn’t the first time Statistics Canada has offered their information in the aftermath of a disaster, with the organization previously sharing information with Ottawa and New Brunswick during floods in 2019.
As for the potential for more assistance from Statistics Canada in the future, LaRochelle-Côté notes, “It’s also useful from an emergency preparedness or planning perspective, because there’s going to be more snow, I’m sure.”
Source:
https://ipolitics.ca/2020/01/31/how-data-from-statscan-was-used-to-help-in-n-l-snowstorm-response/
